The present invention is directed to a trocar button for use in preparing a body for burial. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a trocar button that has both an external drive to permit manual engagement for initial thread engagement and an internal drive for tool engagement to permit final seating of the button.
Trocar buttons are typically used in preparing a body for burial, being used for 1) draining fluid from body cavities, 2) injecting embalming fluid into those cavities and 3) in some instances, plugging incisions that have been formed for these and other purposes. Traditionally, these buttons have an internal drive orifice that is received on an insertion tool and are rotated so that an engagement thread can advance the trocar button through a small incision in the cadaver""s skin. These buttons have a maximum outer diameter of ⅝xe2x80x3 and can be difficult to manipulate, particularly in initial placement and starting the threads.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a more xe2x80x9cuser-friendlyxe2x80x9d trocar button. The trocar button of the present invention has a barrel-shaped entry tip having a diameter to facilitate insertion into a slit in the cadaver""s skin. A conical body portion (which preferably has a conical angle of 45xc2x0) extends outwardly from a first end of the entry tip, the conical body portion having a threaded eternal peripheral section. A head section is attached to the body portion, the head portion having an external, manually-engageable drive and an internal drive which may be engaged by a tool, whereby the manually-engageable drive may be used to initiate insertion resulting from manual rotation and said trocar button may be fully seated by engaging a tool in said internal drive. The trocar button of the present invention has a maximum outer diameter of xe2x85x9exe2x80x3, fully 40% larger than conventional buttons. Further, the head section has a flange which extends from the maximum diameter of the conical section an amount of between 36 and 40% of the maximum diameter of the conical portion. This outwardly extending flange has a gear tooth pattern formed about its periphery permitting the flange to easily be grasped in the user""s fingers and thread engagement manually initiated. The corners of each gear tooth are rounded to eliminate the risk of the gear teeth puncturing protective, elastic gloves. Once the rotation becomes more difficult as the flange approaches the surface of the cadaver""s skin, the tool may be inserted in the internal drive and rotated to fully seat the trocar button in the orifice, with the flange flush with the skin to prevent bulges showing from underneath the clothes. The gear teeth do not extend all the way to the lower surface of the flange so that the gear teeth will not bite into the cadaver""s skin thereby resisting rotation.